Link efforts on air quality and climate - scientists

As world leaders meet in Poland to discuss climate change, scientists from the UK Met Office's weather-mapping Hadley Centre are calling for more joined up thinking on greenhouse gases and air quality.

Air quality should not be ignored when looking at climate change, say scientists

According to current models almost a fifth of the world's population will be exposed to ozone levels well above the World Health Organization recommended safe level by the end of this century.

Hadley Centre predictions suggest large year-round increases in ozone, representing more than a threefold increase in the percentage of population affected.

Many scientists believe that some greenhouse gases and aerosols linked to climate change are also linked to air quality and human health.

For example, ozone contributes to global warming and is also a powerful respiratory irritant in levels frequently observed in urban areas.

New scientific evidence shows much stronger interactions between the carbon cycle, low-level ozone and atmospheric aerosols than previously thought, strengthening evidence for linking action to curb different types of pollution.